Get your grove on!

TIP #4

Exercise is an important key in being healthy. What better way to get your exercise in then with your family! There are so many fun ways to get your family moving. Here are some ideas:

~ Throw dance parties in your living room at night after dinner.

~ Go for walks outside in the morning or evening together.

~ Bike rides around the neighborhood.

~ Set up a simple obstacle coarse in the house or outside for the whole family to enjoy.

~ Go to the High School track and have a family race.

Not only is it important to exercise and keep your family active, but it is even more important to TEACH your kids WHY it is important to exercise and be active. 

Here is a great article that I read in the Fitness Magazine

Fit Kids = Fit Adults

Sometimes it seems that today's children are far more motivated to give their fingers a workout playing video games or using the remote control than they are to move bigger muscles in their bodies. In fact, research shows that 50 percent of 12- to 20-year-olds are not getting the exercise they need. And 34 percent of those kids would fail an eight-minute treadmill test.
"Children watch an average of 3 to 5 hours of television a day", according to Jennifer Trachtenberg, MD, author of Good Kids, Bad Habits: The RealAge Guide to Raising Healthy Children (Harper Collins, 2007). "That really doesn't leave much time to shape up their bodies and their brains."
According to Dr. Trachtenberg, children who enjoy doing physical activity are more likely to exercise as adults. "It's much easier to keep a good habit than it is to break a bad habit," she says.
So the question is, how do you get the good exercising habits started? Here, Dr. Trachtenberg shares her tips for making exercise entertaining for even the most confirmed couch potato kid.

Pages in this Story:

• Fit Kids = Fit Adults
• 1. Let them play video games.
• 2. Take out the TVs.
• 3. Expect them to say no.
• 4. Be a cheerleader.
• 5. Sneak in exercise.
• 6. Walk the walk.
• 7. Get the gift of fitness.
• 8. Involve older children in sports and exercise.

Read more about this article HERE

By Jennifer Saltiel, LMSW

Please share your thoughts. What does your family do to stay active?